Slots How did people play high limit slots before TITO?

LMAO yes I remember those people. I was not one of them though. I just grabbed a pile of the wet naps they always had sitting in the bowls and kept them in my change bucket. Remember how collectible the buckets were? Every casino had a bucket printed up with wild graphics and it would change from time to time. I remember having a stack of them probably 2 feet high at one time.

Also with missing the old machines, I also miss being able to give the drink girl a $5 or a $10 and having her refill my drink before the last one was half empty. Sit down at 7am, here's some cash, and drunk before 9am. lol

 

That's one thing I DON'T miss about Vintage Vegas (tm)!

After playing nickels or quarters for 1/2 hours or so, your hands were black and grey, and I remember taking a trip to the LGR to wash up, only to have black and grey hands 1/2 hour later!

This was far worse because some, make that many, inconsiderate slobs would use the coin tray as an ashtray!

Yes, then there were the "Professional" Slot Player gloves that the casinos sold or gave away. I guess it was a status symbol to be seen as a professional slot player, huh?

 

This totally made me LOL! The feeling is mutual @tee6395. Wishing you a great trip!

 

Anecdotal only but when I was in Vegas in 2002, it was all coins where I went which I think was mostly Rio and NYNY. When I went in 2003, I stayed at The Palms and it was TITO iirc.

 

The advent of TITO technology was a boom for casinos and a bust for patrons.

Sure your hands don’t get dirty but you are losing a lot more.

 

Hmm, I don't even remember anyone wearing gloves in the before TITO days...must not have paid that much attention to it..the only thing I remember was the buckets...if it was a good casino they always had them piled up between the machines in case you needed a bucket for your big win..

 

I was very happy when TITO's came out. It ended the days of my wife hitting something big, and not wanting to cash out cause she "didn't want to fool with 2000 nickels" or "If I hit cash out, we will be here forever cause we will have to wait for a hopper fill"

I did like collecting the buckets though!

 

Before TITO - handpays would often happen at a much lower amount - a few hundred $$ sometimes. No w2-g, but still a handpay so they would not have to come fill the hopper when they ran out of coins.

 

A couple years after I started gambling, I won a $200 jackpot on a nickel machine in a bank of SPAM-themed slot machines at Stardust. The machine started spitting out nickels, and I didn't even know how much I won or how I won it. I was so giddy, and my head was spinning. A woman playing on the next machine over congratulated me, and I confessed to her I didn't know what I won or how I won it. She pointed out I had a SPAM symbol across each of the five reels and it was a progressive. Those were the days!

 

I was BITTERLY disappointed to see the change to TITO. It was so much fun to see 500 quarters - MONEY!!! - stream down into the coin tray. So much - MONEY!!! - you couldn't even carry it all! After all, that was what gambling was all about, right? Money!! And it was a real gas to win, say, 200 silver dollars (remember them?) and walk to the cashier with your pockets bulging with... MONEY!! People today are so freaking spoiled. Good grief, they get a little dark stuff on their fingers, and it's like the end of the world, the poor little darlings. I still play slots just casually, in small amounts, but TITO machines are about as exciting as watching paint dry. No money, just a number on an LED display, and when you cash out, instead of having handfuls of money - MONEY!! - in the tray, you just get a stupid little slip of paper. For me, NOTHING has more negatively impacted the Vegas experience more than this.

I have always believed that if somebody today set up a vintage-style casino, complete with fully functional 70's-style slots, it would be so swamped people would be waiting in line to get in! Maybe some day a casino operator with vision will do it, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

I could tell if my mother (rest her soul) was having fun by how dirty her hands were!

 

As of my last trip in Jan. of this year, Main Street, California, Fremont, and El Cortez still have coin-in machines. Circus-Circus has some $1 near the main entrance to the right (North) past the gift shop as well.

 

And with our new friend (Corona Beer 19) - will those go away totally?

 

Having lived through the experience, I have no wish to repeat it. Having to wait for hand pays of $50 if your were playing nickels, and $250 if you were playing quarters. If you cashed out with under a 1,000 coins, then there was the wait for them to come fill the machine if the coins ran out.

I touch my face - a lot. My hands would be black. My face would be black. My clothes would end up black (no white shirts at the casino).

I LOVE TITO's!!!

 

As I understand it, these are only coin-IN machines, they don't drop coins in the hopper every time you win a little. If they do drop coins, it's only when you hit the Cash Out button. To my knowledge, there aren't any machines that work like they used to.

 

Thanks for reminding me how they changed over the years.

I do remember waiting more than once for somebody to come dump more coins into a machine. And all those coin places scattered around some casinos to redeem coins. Sort of a mini cage like thing.

 

Winning $50 in nickels on a coin machine on my very first trip to Vegas was and still is a wonderful memory.

The bucket of coins and the sound it makes falling in the machine hopper cannot be replicated.

 

If used correctly, the slot gloves discussed earlier could end up making a comeback for exactly this reason

 

A least in the Midwest the casinos had a limit where they would do a handpay instead of getting bpaid out in coins. For some, it was as low as 75 bucks+ for a handpay on a nickel slot. It wasn't uncommon for folks to add cash to get a handpay instead of dealing with coins.